Ah, transfer deadline day. The day when most clubs do their entire transferring, despite there being a whole summer to do it. This is just demonstrated by Arsenal, whose buying season was entirely limited to this day. Park Chu-Young from Monaco, Per Mertesacker from Werder Bremen, Andre Santos from some Turkish club, Mikel Arteta from Everton and Yossi Benayoun from Chelsea all came in on deadline day, while they barely made any buys the other 3 months.
But personally I doubt they will be a fix for a weak Gunners side. Park seems to be a solid attacker, and it's great to see a fellow Asian play for a Big Four club, but I really question the need for another striker with RVP, Gervinho and Chamakh already filling those spaces. Per Mertesacker is a really good addition in defense, but Andre Santos was shambolic at the Copa America while Arteta and Benayoun are way too injury-prone. After that 8-2 mauling by Man United, I thought Arsenal really needed a good, experienced defensive midfielder to provide some cover for the back line, but instead Wenger went and bought 2 attacking midfielders who are likely to spend half the season injured anyway. Looks to be a difficult few months for the Gunners.
Really sad that Man United didn't get Wesley Sneijder: he could have been a great addition to a solid lineup because, although Cleverly is a talented creative midfielder, he still lacks experience and seems a rather poor finisher unlike Sneijder, who could get 20 assists a season as well as 10 or so goals. He was fantastic for Inter last season and seemed eager for a move to England, but the evil Italians didn't let him go probably because the local mafia boss's daughter took a fancy to him or something.
The Peter Crouch to Stoke deal for 10 million euros could be the steal of the summer. Stoke have made an art of the long ball tactic, and the addition of a 6-foot 6 striker could only be a plus. Rory Delap's long throws could now be even more lethal because of Crouch's presence in the box, and he is also a crisp finisher and has a decent balance for such a tall man. Wilson Palacios also adds even more physical presence in the midfield for the Potters.
Tottenham somehow kept Modric at White Hart Lane and added Adebayor and Scott Parker from Man City and West Ham respectively, but they sold a load of other players including Jermaine Jenas, Crouch, Palacios and David Bentley, which means a depleted midfield and even more importance on Modric to match last season's form. A late bid for Bolton's Gary Cahill was rejected, which is disastrous for a Spurs side that conceded 8 goals in 2 games, and perhaps Gareth Bale will have to be moved back into defense: a complete waste because of his attacking prowess.
Some other deals that somewhat surprised me were Raul Meireles's move to Chelsea after being so happy at Liverpool, Everton losing two good strikers in Yakubu and Jermaine Beckford (who's going to score the goals for the Toffees?), Bellamy returning to Liverpool and QPR being the new Man City with Luke Young, Anton Ferdinand, Joey Barton and Shaun Wright-Phillips all coming in. Could the Rangers stay up (at the expense of Fulham/Blackburn?)?.
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